Unemployment Rate, Labor Force Continues to Decline

The latest unemployment numbers are out and a particular trend continues for Binghamton.

The unemployment rate is going down but so is the number of employed people indicating the area's labor force continues to shrink.

The unemployment rate for June was 5.8 percent. That's down from 6.3 percent in June of 2014.

However Binghamton also lost 1,500 employed workers over that span, continuing a trend of a shrinking labor market.

"It's not on the scale that it was last year but still we don't want to be seeing one percent loss in the number of people available and working in our job market in the Binghamton area," said New York State Department of Labor analyst Christian Harris.

Harris says our area has yet to enter the economic recovery to the extent that the rest of the state and nation has.